“You know, it’s a funny thing about writers. Most people don’t stop to think of books being written by people much like themselves. They think that writers are all dead long ago – they don’t expect to meet them in the street or out shopping. They know their stories but not their names, and certainly not their faces. And most writers like it that way – ” Inkhheart
Before I read the above quote last week, I knew the names of many famous authors, and the faces of only a few.
I would not have recognized Edgar Allen Poe had I strolled into that bar room in Baltimore, or J.R.R. Tolkein, unless I was privileged enough to take one of his classes at Oxford University, but I know their words as intimately as I know my husband.
There were only three authors whose faces I knew as well as their names. One is J.K. Rowling, and well…if you need an explanation, please get up from your visiting friend’s wireless laptop, chip away at your ice block front door, harness up your sled dogs and join us in civilization. The other two are J.A. Konrath (at least in profile with sunglasses) and Joanna Penn.
I think as a group, that Inkheart quote is correct – most writers are solitary creatures, and most readers know the words that moved them, not the author who imagined and wrote those words.
In the 21st Century, however this scenario has changed drastically for every writer who wants to publish her work and have it read, AND for every lover of the written word who wants to know more about her favorite writer. With the sudden ease of self publishing and the ability of indie authors to broadcast exactly what they want to say, unfiltered by publishers, we now have an amazing amount of electronically published works to devour. This basic, yet amazing change in publishing has made that Inkheart quote obsolete, I think. If an author, indie or not, wants her books to be read, she must show her readers who she is – literally!
Monday, January 23, 2012 saw this transformation for me. I now know the names and faces, and have devoured the delicious work of 35 incredible writers (and counting), who have changed my blogging and writing life forever. In the hope that you can do the same, here is the cause of this wonderful transformation.
It’s called Triberr.
Belonging to a tribe is a basic human need. Triberr fills that need for writers, and it allows us to help each other. I don’t look at another author as a competitor, like another maternity company is a competitor for MommyLoves. So having other authors read, comment and promote my work is the most amazing thing that could happen for my message and my books.
If you are an author, and you want your work read, promote others whose work you admire, and karma will take care of the rest…no really karma is a basic function of Triberr!
Here’s to a new world for authors, and once you have edited and formatted your manuscript, send it out into the world by joining the tribe!
~Mary Kathryn Johnson 2012
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom
